Presence, Meaning, and the Other in Katharine Susannah Prichard’s Coonardoo: The Well in the Shadow

Submitted by gespak on Mon, 03/10/2016 - 10:47.

Author(s):

Barnabás Baranyi

Journal of the European Association for Studies of Australia (JEASA), Vol.7 No.1, 2016.

Barnabás Baranyi

Presence, Meaning, and the Other in Katharine Susannah Prichard's Coonardoo: The Well in the Shadow

Abstract: This article reflects on the discursive strategies deployed by Katharine Susannah Pritchard's Coonardoo to undermine the then-dominant way of referring to Aboriginal-white relations, especially those involving sexuality. The novel does this through establishing Aboriginal culture as resembling a "presence culture" in Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht's terminology, while white-Australian culture is representative of a "meaning culture." Thus Coonardoo sets up a relationship between the two cultures that is reminiscent of the poststructuralist self/Other dichotomy. However, in contrast to most authors reflecting on the novel's representation of Aboriginal Otherness, this paper contends that Prichard's use of this dualism positions the two cultures in a way that allows for meaningful cultural exchange between them, rather than presenting these worldviews as incompatible with one another.